Thursday, June 4, 2015

FORNÉS x 2

THE
IMPRESSIVE & THE UNIMPRESSED

…But as evidenced by the unimpressed faces I see when I look down from
the mezzanine or linger in the lobbies after a show, too much of our theatre
has forgotten this. In its desire to be well-made, vetted and marketable, much
of English-language theatre has forgotten about this fundamental invitation.
Out theatre has forgotten to let us in.

Jordan
Tannahill – Theatre of the Unimpressed

I’m not big on interactive theatre. Especially when I’m
napping. But I will make an exception for the current production of two Maria
Irene Fornés plays being presented in a freezer bag of a space in a basement in
Kensington Market. It’s not that it’s cold in there. But the lush silvery walls do look like
the upholstered inside of something I put one small salad and four bottles of wine in when I go on a
picnic, alone. Maybe some jello vodka and tequila shots for dessert.

Bad theatre does not put me to sleep. Exhaustion does. I
dozed off once, in the seventies, possibly the eighties, sitting in the front row,
during a lovely little production of Hamlet, starring RH Thomson. I think he was
playing Ophelia. Perhaps not? I mentioned it to him during a chance meeting on
the subway after his performance in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, and he scowled lightly and said “Oh, that was you.” I think Tom would have approved.

I really don’t mind when audience members slumber lightly in
a play I’m in. Sometimes they are doing us both a really big favor. It may in fact be a hallmark of what young’ish theatre maverick Jordan Tannahill calls the Theatre of the Unimpressed. From my
first reading of his brilliant essay/novella, I have come to the conclusion that a sleeping pill could
very well be the antidote for tedious
theatricks. But there is no room for tedium in Theatre Asylum’s wonderful
mounting of two short'ish plays by the radically inspired Cuban/American playwright of the 1960’s and
onward.

l-r - Jamie Robinson, Hardee T. Lineham, and Michelle Latimer in Mud

Maria Irene Fornés has a incredible skill for cutting right to the bone in sharp, uncluttered
dialogue that speaks its mind directly and with a visceral air that allows
theatre interpreters to give the overall mise en scene as intense an atmosphere
as they fancy. Clearly, this is what Theatre Asylum fancies and they have successfully tickled mine - fancy that is.

The Successful
Life of 3

In the first 27 minute offering comprising the first third of the evening the metallic walled atmosphere floundered only a little due to the placement of the actors as they
are butted somewhat awkwardly between three
sections of audience in a long narrow space without enough bells and whistles
to distract us from the precarious view. But the arrangement of a couch or two
in one area is a pleasing and welcoming touch. Luckily I was not sitting on one
or I might have sprawled out and never regained consciousness when Hardee T.
Lineham spoke to me briefly, in character. True to my own pleasantly irate character I tried to politely
mask my sleepishness and get on with the show (my apologies to Hardee and anyone
else who even cared to notice).

The performances in The Successful Life of 3 are immaculate comic/animated portraits
drawn from a kind of vaudeville skit’ish format. Two men and a woman appear to
be indulging in, battling against, and making merry among forms of misogyny
used in sketch comedy from yesteryear, and they succeed brilliantly in the
hands of an ensemble who understands the demands of one dimensional characters
bringing to life the demands of a three-way abusive human interaction. But the
setting needs a little more vaudevillian inspired houp-la, exaggerated big prop
presence, what have you, to drive the parodic point home. The Nurse’s uniform
and the over-sized breasts were effective but need a little more support.

A prolonged intermission runs the risk of losing some of the
audience after a short play that cannot – and need not - prepare one for the intensity
and depth of the second offering of the evening. But The Successful Life of 3 does have plenty of engaging moments that
may have fared better had they been electrified by an immersive environment as compelling
as the final part of the evening. Even just a couple of giant bloodied pinwheels
and a sequined guillotine might have enlivened the atmosphere. But for the most
part, the over-stuffed medical uniform, the lascivious dialogue, and the breakneck vaudeville pacing bounced along with an abjectifying agility that gave
everyone a light comic taste of what was in store in the second half of the evening.

Mud

With the same brilliant triumvirate of actors Mud presented a strangely similar narrative of three way romantic
mayhem but with a decidedly more gritty realistic style. The beautifully
rendered set, with projections by Troy Hourie, depicts a kind of graceful faded kitchen
drama about to pale and crumble. Incredible lighting changes throughout by
Sandra Marcroft are perfectly attuned to scenes that lighten then darken the action
at appropriate moments, ultimately restoring each narrative movement, after the end of a scene, to its former domestic non glory.

Layered direction by Jennifer H. Capraru, with monumentally mind-blowing
freezes at the end of each dramatic portion, punctuates the plot with an effective reminder
of the violent dysfunction at hand as it relentlessly implodes from start to finish.
Michelle Latimer as Mae gives a passionate and impeccable performance in a role
that could easily become an over emotive train wreck at the mercy of a less nuanced study in frustration, romantic/material longing, desperation, and a need to
escape a claustrophobic male centered equation. With a smouldering intensity Latimer
pulls us into what the program notes describe as “a female-centric love triangle…[conveying] themes of masculine rivalry, sex, and the power that come with it.”
Hardee T. Lineham as Henry portrays the love-twisted victimizer and victimized
with incredible power, diverse vocal characterization and sheer physical bravado. Jamie Robinson’s Lloyd
is a beautiful study in simple minded power mongering, dubiously sexy machismo,
some deliciously teasing décolletage by costume designer Snezana Pesic, and a
seemingly brainless approach to the people that surround him. As a sixty minute tour
de force of roller coastering proportions, Mud
speaks of primordial lust and a threateningly conjugal bliss that can never
be fully attained within the confines of emotional and material poverty where
romantic escape and needy scapegoating become the order of the day.

Theatre Asylum’s overall evening of Fornés’ brilliant work is
a breath of fresh air in a freezer bag space that promises to impress the
unimpressable, and wake us from our exhausted stupor into a world of startling "vital" * theatre that reminds us that the best productions are the ones that take harrowing
tired old stories and turn them into harrowing fresh new takes on the
interminably inhuman condition. Unlike the
unimpressive mind numbing theatre many lament in this day and age, Theatre
Asylum, in its current production of Fornés X 2, achieves a startling, engaging and powerful rendition of two works by a truly great
international playwright whose long career and artistic output is done great justice
by this impressive offering.

And once again, so sorry I napped for a second or two in act
one. They do not put the ‘tired’ into tired
old queen for no good reason at all… Thank you and good night…

* the subtitle of Theatre of the Unimpressed is 'In Search Of Vital Drama'

running until June 14th at 213 Augusta Avenue, 8PM.
www.theatreasylum.com